Marywood and Lackawanna College dump Mellow's name; remove signs

April 26--The news releases were brief, but the actions of three area institutions of higher education Thursday spoke volumes.

Lackawanna College was first to announce that a building on campus would no longer bear the name of former state Sen. Robert J. Mellow.

Within hours, Marywood University and Keystone College followed suit.

The similar timing of all three announcements was not addressed by officials.

In a one-sentence news release sent at 9:40 a.m., Lackawanna College relayed the news without mentioning the former Senate Democratic leader.

"The Board of Trustees of Lackawanna College met in April 2013 and, after thoughtful consideration, decided to name its theater the Theater at Lackawanna College," the statement read.

The board met this week and the move had been discussed before, Director of External Relations Wendy Evans said. Two signs were taken down early Thursday, she added.

"For right now, there's just a Lackawanna College banner hanging in the place where it was," she said.

Just before 3 p.m., Marywood University issued a statement about a name change at one of its campus facilities.

"After thoughtful consideration, the Marywood University Board of Trustees made the decision this past Saturday at their Spring meeting to rename the university's athletic center," according to the statement. "The Center originally named for Senator Robert J. Mellow will, for the foreseeable future, be referred to as The Marywood University Center for Athletics and Wellness."

When asked whether the decision was connected to charges against Mr. Mellow, officials declined to comment and referred all questions to Public Relations Director Juneann Greco. "We're going to let the statement stand alone," she said.

A sign with a portrait and dedication that had been mounted in the foyer has been taken down and the exterior sign, which requires more work to remove, will soon follow.

Mr. Mellow is currently serving a 16-month prison sentence for federal corruption charges. Last month, he was charged with bribery, bid-rigging and conspiracy after he was named in a "pay-to-play" scandal where investigators say he and state turnpike officials required vendors to make political contributions to win bids.

Keystone College made its own announcement just before 4 p.m. Thursday, confirming that a sign bearing Mr. Mellow's name had been taken down in an area of campus around the children's center.

A statement from the college said:

"In light of recent developments, Keystone College has removed the sign from the Mellow Family Children's Campus at Keystone College. We will have no further comment or elaboration on this issue."

Those "recent developments" referred to Mr. Mellow's "legal situation," according to Senior Director of College Relations Fran Calpin. He said renaming the area would be addressed by the college at a later date.

Officials from all three establishments had been considering the name changes as early as last month, when Blakely borough council made the first move, changing the name of Mellow Park to Blakely Borough Recreation Complex.